A new pair of headphones is a wonderful thing, especially if they're well reviewed and you know they'll sound great. However, we've said before that the only ears that matter are yours. How do you go about testing a new pair of headphones to make sure they sound just right? What do you listen to first?

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When I open a pair of headphones, whether it's to test out for an article or it's just because I bought them for myself and want to make sure I got my money's worth, I have a playlist full of a variety of songs and musical genres that I fire up. Some of it's electronic (because I tend to listen to a lot of electronica), some of it is jazz, some of it is hip hop, acoustic, classical, even 80s synthpop can tell me a lot about a particular set of cans. What do you listen to first when you want to put a new set of earbuds or on-ear headphones through their paces?